Stamp



Mafch 5, 1957 H. VANCE STAMP Filed sept. 3,1954

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United States Pater STAMP Hart Vance, St. Louis, Mo.

Application September 3, 1954, Serial No. 454,986

3 Claims. (Cl. lill- 333) This invention relates to stamps, and moreparticularly to collapsible stamping devices, which may, with its inkingdevice, be conveniently carried in the pocket or may be incorporated ina writing instrument or other pocket accessory.

United States Patent No. 2,456,904 discloses a pencontained stampingset, the inking pad being fixed within a slotted section of the pencasing and the stamp being pivotally connected to a tubular cap by meansof a lostmotion linkage. The cap normally envelopes the slotted part ofthe pen casing, which contains the inking pad and stamp, but it may bedrawn out axially clear of the casing. As the cover clears the pencasing, the lost-motion linkage coupled to the stamp becomes eiective tolimit further axial movement, whereupon the elongate cap is pivoted to aposition at right angles with the stamp. The stamp is then lifted fromthe pad and is manipulated during a stamping operation by means of thecap. Although the arrangement has some merit, it suffers from a seriousdefect. The device is essentially a novelty, yet the cost and complexityof operation substantially preclude its sale in the novelty market.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide adevice of the character described at reduced cost and without thecomplexities inherent from the pivotal, lost-motion linkage between thestamp and the telescoping cap. Indeed, this linkage is entirelyeliminated and in place thereof, I form a boss on the back of the stamp,the boss being of a height sufficient to engage the inner Wall of thecap as it is telescoped home (thereby to hold the stamp against ytheinking pad), and the boss otherwise being of a shape such as to have asnug iit within the mouth of the cap (thereby to permit manipulation ofthe stamp by use of the cap as a handle). This boss pref* erably isformed as a resilient element, either as a piece of rubber attached tothe back of the stamp or as a projection upset from a spring metalbacking for the stamp.

Also, the pen casing in the aforesaid patent is constituted by a conicalnose piece and a relatively rotary center piece of cylindric shape,apparently to provide for feeding of a lead point from the nose,although the description is not very clear. In any event, there isnothing to discourage rotation of the cap relative to the center bodysection of the casing (this being a thing .to be expected as one.experiments with the device), yet such rotation may well damage thelost-motion linkage. The present invention contemplates a somewhatdifferent arrangement, which simplies construction and improves thegeneral appearance. Briefly, the pen casing is a unitary hollow member,one end of which is tapered and the other end or" which is closed with axed nut and relatively rotatable screw. The stamp receptacle is iixed tothe rear face of the screw, and the cap has a press iit therewith sothat the cap and screw rotate together. A writing unit is then seatedagainst the other end of the screw so as to advance and retract throughthe tapered end of the casing as the cap is turned relative to thecasing.

Other features will be in part apparent and in part ice pointed out inthe following detail description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is an oblique exploded View illustrating a pen stamping deviceembodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is longitudinal sectional view of the device, with the stampreceptacle closed by the cap; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. 2 showing use of the cap as ahandle for the stamp.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown an elongate hollow body orcasing 1, one end of which Itapers to a port 3 and the other end ofwhich holds a nut 5. The nut 5 is fixed within the body 1, as by threads7, and is internally threaded for cooperation with a screw 9. A rod-likewriting element 11 is seated against the front part of the screw toextend forwardly toward the opening 3 at the other end of the body, acompression spring 12 being provided to hold the writing element 11against the screw. When the screw 9 is rotated in one direction, thewriting element is advanced against the bias of the spring through theopening 3, .the element 11 being lretracted within the casing by reverserotation of the screw. It should be understood, however, that no claimis made to this structure apart from its use in combination with theother features of construction described below.

In particular, it will be noted that a radially-opening tubularreceptacle 13 is secured to the screw 9 in rearwardly projectingrelationship. That portion 14 of the receptacle adjacent the screw iscircular, but a slot is otherwise cut at 15 to form a chamber ofsemi-circular cross section, the end of the `chamber being defined by awall 17 having a flange 19 overhanging the opening 15. An inking pad 20is then secured within the bottom of the receptacle for cooperation witha stamp 21. The arrangement is one wherein the stamp is approximately inthe axis of the receptacle and is retained against the inking pad 2i) byan elongate tubular cap 23.

The stamp 21 is formed with the usual raised rubber indicia held upon abacking member 25. This piece 2S can be stamped from sheet metal, and inbeing stamped, a boss 27 is upset centrally between the ends thereof.This boss should be of a height suticient to engage the inner wallsurface of the cap 23, so that the front of the stamp is held againstthe inking pad (Fig. 2), and it should be of an outline such that it maybe fitted snugly within the mouth of the cap (Fig. 3). The cooperationbetween the cap 23 and boss 27 may be slightly resilient, it beingunderstood the back 25 may be formed from spring metal. Alternatively,the boss 27 could be formed as a rubber button, secured to the back ofthe stamp.

In operation, the cap 23 telescopes over the receptacle 13, the stampthereby being pressed against the inking pad and the mouth portion ofthe cap having a tight fit with the forward cylindric portion 14 of thereceptacle. As such, the stamp receptacle is sealed, and the screw 9 isprepared for rotation by turning of the cap relative to the body 1.Normally, the writing element (for example, a ball-point unit) isretracted within the body, but it is readily advanced by turning thecap.

When the stamp is to be used, the cap is pulled oft", and is manipulatedto engage the boss 27 snugly within the mouth. The stamp is then liftedfrom the pad 20 throughl :the opening 15.

In replacing the stamp, oneend is i'rst entered into the circularportion 14 of the receptacle adjacent the screw 9, and the other end isthen locked beneath the ilange 19. Necessarily, the stamp is somewhatlonger than the opening 15, hence the cap is readily detached from thestamp, while it is held within the receptacle 13. Finally, the capl istelescoped over the receptacle to seal the same, with the stamp inengagement with its inking pad.

When in the proces-s of applying the cap 23 over receptlacle 13, the twoparts have been telescoped to an 3 extent sufficient that the interiorof the clap engages the surface or boss 27, it becomes practicallyimpossible to turn the cap re-lative to the receptacle. rl`hat isattributable to the inherent resilence of the parts and theirinteritting relationship as it is observed that any effort to rotate thecap relative to the receptacle, while the interior of the cap is engagedwith boss 27, tends to twist the stamp V2l within the receptacle so thatthe greater the effort exerted to rotate the cap relative to therecepacle, the tighter the wedging action which tends to restrain-suchrelative rotation; but when the interior of the cap is free ofengagement with boss 27, the cap may be readily rotated relative toreceptacle 13, The same result could be accomplished, of course, byproviding one or more interfitting groves and ridges in the outersurface of the boss 27 and the interior periphery of cap 23. The featurethat it is practically impossible to turn the cap relative to thereceptacle when the cap is in the position shown in Figure 2, isimportant not only from the standpoint of being able to operate theretracting mechanism of the writing instrument by gripping and turningthe cap relative to the body 1, but is also important from thestandpoint that the position of opening is indicated with certainty bythe position of the cap or some mark or attachment such as theconventional clip 28. The importance of this will be `appreciated whenit is realized that, if in the process of removing the cap the device isheld in a position such that the opening 15 is down, the stamp 21 willreadily fall out when the cap is removed therefrom. Accordingly, if theuser takes pains to remember that the cap 23 be applied to thereceptacle 13 in a position such that the clip 23 is in alignment withboss 27, and takes pains to remember to hold the clip up when the cap isremoved, the danger of dropping stamp 21 is overcome. When the cap is inits full telescoping position, as shown in Figure 2, it may be rotatedto operate the retracting 4mechanism as in this position the cap mayrotate relative to body 1 and nut 5 (over which the cap has a freefitting relation) without rotating relative to the receptacle 13 throughwhich the retracting mechanism is operated.

While the invention has been disclosed with particular relationship to awriting instrument, which may be either a pen or pencil, it may also beincorporated with other pocket accessories such as lipstick cases (whichare usually provided with a rete-acting mechanism), cigarette lighters,and such like.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the entiredevice is inexpensive to manufacture and simple to operate, therebymeeting the primary requirements for sale in its normal market. Althoughonly one embodiment is illustrated, it should be understood that theinvention is not limitedto the specific details described, but that theprinciples thereof are susceptible to diverse modications and adaptionswithout departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope thereof,as set forth in the claims.

CFI

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

l. A printing device comprising an elongate hollow body having aremovable cap telescoped over one end thereof, a radially-openingreceptacle projecting from said body into sealing engagement with saidcap, said receptacle containing an inking pad and a stamp, the back ofsaid stamp having boss-forming-means engageable with the inner wall ofthe cap to hold the stamp against said inking pad, said boss otherwisebeing of an outline such as to be snugly engageable with the mouth ofthe cap, said body containing a retractable writing element atitheopposite end from said cap, a nut xed within the body at the end thereofopposite the writing end, a screw threaded through said nut, saidwritingelement being slidably received in said body and coupled to saidscrew for axial displacement upon rotation of the screw, saidv stampreceptacle being fixed to said screw so as to be rotatable with thescrew and relative to the body; said cap, receptacle and boss beingshaped and proportioned to restrain relative movement therebetweenV whenthe cap is in position enveloping said boss but free for relativemovement otherwise.

2. A printing device comprising an elongate body formed with an elongatereceptacle at one end thereof, said receptacle opening radially andcontaining a relatively xed elongate inking pad and a relativelyremovable stamp, an elongate hollow cap removably telescoped over saidreceptacle, said cap being slightly tapered away from its mouth andtoward its closed end along the inner wall, the back of said stamphaving boss-forming means projecting radially for engagement with thetapering portion of the cap when the cap is telescoped over thereceptacle so as to wedge the stamp tightly against the inking pad, saidboss-forming means being of an outline such as to wedge within the mouthof the cap.

3. A printing device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said receptacle isof a length greater than that of said stamp but has means at the ends ofits opening for overlianging the ends of said stlamp when the stamp isat one end of the receptacle, the stamp being removable from thereceptacle by movement toward the opposite end to clear one end of thestamp from the overhanging means at one end of thc receptacle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain July 13, 1 948 warme#

